In turn, city officials requested that two items be added to their list of legislative priorities. One addition makes support of the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 188th Fighter Wing an official priority.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, which brought last year’s debt-ceiling crisis to an end, contained a trigger for $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts to reduce the deficit over the next decade. The Department of Defense would have to absorb $492 billion, or 42.6 percent, of the “sequestration” cuts.

“If sequestration should occur, it would essentially, because of the cuts that will be imposed on the DoD, ensure that there would be a 2015 base realignment discussion and possible action,” said Steven Pruitt, of Watts Partners. “Your voice is needed in that debate. At this point, the department, they’ve only been hearing from the members of Congress. They haven’t heard a whole lot from this community. You had a hearing here where the subcommittee chairman came and heard from elected officials and business officials about the impact. The department hasn’t heard that.”

In August, the chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., attended a “Defending Our Defenders” tour stop in Fort Smith. At that rally, which attracted hundreds of residents and dozens of elected leaders, concerns were voiced over the proposed defense budget cuts and removal of A-10 missions from the Fighter Wing.

J.C. Watts Jr., who described his firm as the “eyes and ears for the city in Washington,” said touting the quality of the 188th is important.

“Arkansas, Oklahoma, politically, we don’t have electoral votes that we can go and try to leverage somebody to pay attention to who we are,” he said. “We have to focus on quality and productivity. That’s our pitch to the decision-makers — the quality that Fort Smith provides.”

The second addition to the city’s priority list is intended to improve transportation and boost commerce on the Arkansas River.

“I think we need to add the 12-foot channelization of the river as one of our priorities,” Mayor Sandy Sanders said.